We read in today’s liturgy, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin” (Hb 4:15).
Growing up, my mother made Good Friday memorable — not by filling it with activities or sweets or songs, but by filling it with silence. From noon until 3 p.m., we weren’t allowed to talk, turn on the TV, or run around the house. Our silence was timed to match the hours our Lord hung on the cross. And even now, years later, my sisters and I remember that silence. It’s shaped how I approach this day, the day we paradoxically call “good.”
The world doesn’t pause for Good Friday. People go to work, students sit in class, the radio keeps chattering. But I think it’s worth reclaiming some of that silence in our hearts. Maybe today’s the day to switch off the podcast (except My Daily Visitor, of course), turn down the noise, and remember what this day is really about.
‘Come, let us adore’
If you can, go to the Good Friday liturgy, the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion. Let yourself be struck, as Father Vincent Ferrer is, by the ancient, solemn beauty of the intercessions — those long, aching prayers where the Church brings everything before the crucified Christ: the sick, the imprisoned, the unbelieving, the suffering world. The rhythm is demanding — stand, kneel, pray — but fitting. It’s a full-body prayer for the full weight of human need.
One of the most powerful moments of the liturgy for me is the unveiling of the cross. “Behold the wood of the Cross,” the priest sings, “on which hung the salvation of the world.” And we respond, “Come, let us adore.” Recall that St. Thomas Aquinas, following the Church Fathers, says that it was fitting Jesus should die on a cross because so much of salvation history was already foreshadowed in wood — from Noah’s ark to Moses’ staff to the tree in Eden.
Whether you’re worshipping the cross at the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion or alone in your room, take time today to be still. Behold the cross. Let your heart be moved by what Christ has done for you. Let today be good. Let it be holy.
